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Differences in the quality of school-based assessment : evidence for Grade 9 Mathematics achievementMotsamai, Puleng Caroline January 2016 (has links)
This study aimed to investigate whether there was evidence of variation in the
quality of School-Based Assessment (SBA), with specific reference to Grade 9
mathematics. Assessment has been a prime focal point for educational reform in
recent years. In the South African context, there are common external
assessments carried out below Grade 12. However, assessments are placed
entirely in the hands of individual teachers. Moderation and monitoring as quality
assurance mechanisms are also conducted internally at varying degrees, which
raises the issues regarding the validity, reliability, and credibility of SBA tasks.
Learner achievement in mathematics had recently been a debated issue in
national and international assessments. Furthermore, South Africa's Grade 9
learners have been performing below the expected levels in mathematics as
compared to the rest of the world.
A qualitative research approach was used within a case study research design.
Purposeful sampling was employed, and five schools with 15 participants were
selected. The data were collected through questionnaires, semi-structured
interviews, observations and field notes, and were triangulated by document
analysis in order to make the findings and conclusions more reliable. This study
revealed that there is a varying degree in the quality of mathematics SBA tasks,
and a lack of knowledge about quality assurance mechanisms. In addition, the
study revealed that the participating teachers lacked knowledge on how to develop
high quality SBA tasks.
This study followed Scheeren's input-process-output model (2004), which was
further adapted to provide an opportunity to identify enhancing or impeding issues
associated with the quality of SBA and learner achievement at Grade 9 level. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted
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A discursive analysis of the use of mathematical vocabulary in a grade 9 mathematics classroomSihlangu, Siphiwe Pat January 2022 (has links)
Thesis (M.Ed. (Mathematics Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / A classroom in which learners are afforded opportunities to engage in
meaningful mathematical discourse (Sfard, 2008) is desirable for the effective
teaching and learning of mathematics. However, engagement in mathematical
discourse requires learners to use appropriate mathematical vocabulary to think,
learn, communicate and master mathematics (Monroe & Orme, 2002). Hence, I have
undertaken this study to explore how mathematical vocabulary is used during
mathematical classroom discourse using the lens of the commognitive framework. I
chose a qualitative approach as an umbrella for the methodology with ethnography
as the research design whereby participant observation, structured interviews and
documents were used to collect data. One Grade 9 mathematics classroom with 25
learners and their mathematics teacher were purposefully selected as participants
in the study.
During data analysis, I looked at Sfard’s (2008) constructs of the
commognitive theory to analyse the data and identify the mathematics vocabulary
used in the discourse. This was followed by the use of realisation trees that I
constructed for the teacher and learners’ discourse, which I used to identify learners
thinking as either being explorative or ritualistic. Results indicate that both the
teacher and learners use mathematical vocabulary objectively with positive whole
numbers to produce endorsed narrative regulated by explorative routines. However,
with algebraic terms both positive and negative, the teacher and learners’ discourse
is mostly disobjectified, and produces narratives that are not endorsed and are
regulated by ritualistic routines. It also became evident that the mathematical
vocabulary that the teacher and learners use in the classroom discourse includes
words that are mathematical in nature and colloquial words that learners use for
mathematical meaning.
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Furthermore, learners’ responses to the given mathematics questions which
they are solving are mostly correct, hence it can be argued that the learners’
narratives were endorsed. However, their realisation trees indicates that learners
were not working with mathematical objects in their own right (Sfard, 2008) and
hence their narratives were not endorsed. I have recommended in this study, that
teachers need to be cautious when operating with entities and not separate
operations from their mathematical terms. Furthermore, the department of basic
education, during workshops should encourage educators to always request
reasons from learners substantiating their answers to questions in order to enhance
their explorative thinking.
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